By Vanaja Banagiri

You could mistake Sharat Babu Vasireddy for the guy-next-door. His age (34), disarming smile and unassuming demeanor make it hard to believe that this is the man who has pioneered the decentralized education movement in Andhra Pradesh, a state in Southern India with over 66 million people, larger than most countries.

Vasireddy has succeeded in placing school governance in the hands of students, parents, teachers and communities. Moreover, while some private schools for the privileged in India have experimented with forms of decentralization, Vasireddy has applied this principle to a very different population – slum residents, with neither the means nor the awareness to help their children succeed at school.

This target audience is one that Vasireddy knows well. Although he had studied engineering, he joined the civil liberties movement during college, after which he joined a child rights organization called the M.V. Foundation. In this role, he worked hard to get children, who live on the streets, into classrooms. This experience, as well as his work as a champion for child laborers, tribal people and handloom weavers, taught him that access to education is critical.

"Though I had always been interested in creative education, I realized that unless one has access to basic education, one cannot be creative," says Vasireddy, who feels that power is "access, utility and control." This insight provides the basis for the "Baljyothi" (Enlightenment for Children) schools he devised, which are accessible to, and utilized by, people who feel empowered to control them.

Community Control of Schools

Starting with three schools and 7,000 students in 1996, Vasireddy's program now covers 200 model schools serving the slum districts of Hyderabad, the capital city of Andhra Pradesh. With a negligible drop-out rate, these schools provide first-time access to education to thousands of children and are managed by the local community.

Vasireddy understood that there were compelling practical and psychological reasons to place administrative control in the hands of the slum residents. When people accustomed to rejection and alienation are empowered to make decisions for themselves, they generate a powerful energy directed towards social ends. Furthermore, there is a transformation in a community's culture when a majority of children shift from being wage-earners to students.

Initially, Vasireddy's three schools aimed at helping child laborers regain their lost childhood. The children were removed from work situations and enrolled in school after counseling the parents.

"Most of our students were daily wage-earners, and it really boosted their morale when they were addressed and treated as students and not laborers," recounts Yadaiah, a teacher in one of the "Baljyothi" schools. The families of wage-earners were put in touch with voluntary organizations to enhance their income so that they did not withdraw their children. For example Balamma, mother of nine-year-old Velu was given a sewing machine with which she could more than make up for the income lost as a result of her son's school attendance.

While Vasireddy had initially turned to the government for funding, he gradually encouraged the community to invest in the schools – financially and otherwise – reflecting his conviction that if the schools were firmly grounded in the community, they are much more likely to succeed. The running of these schools is in the hands of parents and teachers, who form management committees. Mothers' committees are formed by the mothers in the slums to recommend teachers and act as watchdogs to ensure the smooth functioning of schools.

The management and mothers' committees meet regularly to solve problems on a day-to-day basis. Absenteeism of students from single-parent families, for example, is the single biggest problem that the schools encounter. In such cases, the committees approach the parent and provide counseling about the importance of regular attendance. The nearly non-existent absentee rate is evidence of the strategy's success.

Recruiting Teachers

Students of all ages study together in the classrooms of the community schools. Children aged nine to fourteen may also attend educational camps held on a campus outside the city of Hyderabad. The continually evolving curriculum is based loosely on official textbooks in Urdu and Telegu (the region's mother tongue); the other materials are generated by the experiences of local teachers, children and community.

Some of the curriculum is devoted to issues particularly relevant to the community, such as sanitation, health, pollution and communal harmony. Vasireddy also recruits teachers from the local community. He first conducts workshops with young, unemployed adults from the slums, helping them redefine their roles and visualize themselves as responsible lead players in the community. From these groups, he identifies girls with potential, depending heavily on the recommendations of the mothers' committees.

All teachers are required to have passed tenth grade, and Vasireddy only selects women, who, he says "have more tact than men." Significantly, girls make up 60 percent of all the children enrolled in schools. The teachers earn more than they would have in any other job. For orientation, they must attend a 15-day training program to interact with the community on educational issues.

The dynamic interdependence between the school and the community that Vasireddy has crafted contrasts sharply with India's government schools for the poor, run from a distance by state or federal government employees. The government controls the selection of teachers, curriculum and administrators. It assigns certified teachers to posts in various cities and villages, where the teachers have no connections or loyalty.

Central control saps local initiative and prevents teachers from developing a broader role in, and accountability to, the community, perpetuating antiquated teaching systems and standards. While India does have a number of private schools that offer superior education, these are strictly for the privileged.

"But it's not as if the government alone can be accused of non-performance," says Vasireddy. "It also has a lot to do with people's attitudes of accepting everything passively." Sensitizing communities to various social issues is the single most important aspect of social development for Vasireddy – and this work has not exactly been a cakewalk.

"I faced ridicule, rejection and discouragement at every step, initially," he recounts, "and there have been instances when senior government officers listened to my concept and showed me the door straightaway!" However, his conviction did not let him give up. "His tenacity can be quite exasperating," says Latha Memon of UNICEF. "There are times when I have given in to his demand only because I wanted to get rid of him."

Local and National Support

Vasireddy's persistence is complemented by the intrinsic appeal of an idea that works. Because "Baljyothi" schools are community-based, Vasireddy has been able to build up a powerful network of diverse interest groups, policy advocacy groups, informal labor groups, youth clubs, voluntary organizations (like UNICEF) and government agencies. Fifty of his schools have been adopted by local citizen organizations.

The state government has been supportive through departments beyond the Ministry of Education. The National Child Labor Program, the Adult Education program and the Women and Child Welfare department, all provide financial assistance to Vasireddy's work. "Ultimately, decentralization of schools must become standard policy," says Vasireddy, looking ahead.

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